Economic evaluation of California prenatal participation in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) to prevent preterm birth.

There is growing evidence that prenatal participation in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) reduces the risk of adverse birth outcomes. With recent changes in health care, rising health care costs, and increasing rates of prematurity in the U.S., there is urgency to estimate the potential cost savings associated with prenatal WIC participation. A cost-benefit analysis from a societal perspective with a time horizon over the newborn's life course for a hypothetical cohort of 500,000 Californian pregnant women was conducted in 2017. A universal coverage, a status quo ('business as usual') and a reference scenario (absence of WIC) were compared. Total societal costs, incremental cost savings, return on investment, number of preterm births prevented, and incremental net monetary benefits were reported. WIC resulted in cost-savings of about $349 million and the prevention of 7575 preterm births and would save more if it were universal. Spending $1 on prenatal WIC resulted in mean savings of $2.48 (range: $1.24 to $6.83). Decreasing prenatal WIC enrollment by 10% would incur additional costs (i.e. loss) of about $45.3 million to treat the resulting 981 preterm babies. In contrast, a 10% increase in prenatal WIC enrollment would prevent 141 preterm births and achieve additional cost-savings of $6.5 million. The findings confirm evaluations from the early 1990s that prenatal WIC participation is cost-saving and cost-effective. Further savings could be achieved if all eligible women were enrolled in WIC. Substantial preterm birth-related costs would result from reductions in WIC participation.

Economic Assessment of Reverse Algorithm Syphilis Screening in a High Prevalence Population.

BACKGROUND: More laboratories are screening for syphilis with automated treponemal immunoassays. We compared direct costs and downstream consequences when a local public health laboratory switches from a traditional algorithm (nontreponemal screening) to a reverse algorithm (treponemal screening). METHODS: We created a decision analysis model based on laboratory and surveillance data to estimate the cost-effectiveness of a reverse syphilis-screening algorithm from the perspectives of the Los Angeles County Public Health Laboratory and the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (laboratory + STD Program costs) in 2015 US dollars. RESULTS: The estimated total costs for the Department (Public Health Laboratories) were $2,153,225 ($367,119) for the traditional algorithm and $2,197,478 ($239,855) for the reverse algorithm. Reverse algorithm screening was estimated to detect an additional 626 cases of syphilis, 9.7% more than the traditional algorithm. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio for the reverse algorithm from the Public Health Department's perspective was $39 per additional syphilis case detected. Cost of follow-up, screening test costs, positivity rates, and frequency of repeat infections most affected the cost-effectiveness of reverse algorithm. Costs were significantly higher for the reverse algorithm when the enzyme Immunoassay/chemiluminescence immunoassay screening test cost was the same as the published Centers for Medicaid Services treponemal test cost. CONCLUSIONS: Using the reverse algorithm would have been slightly more expensive for the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, but would have identified more syphilis cases and would have resulted in lower laboratory costs.

Neighborhood Food Environment, Diet, and Obesity Among Los Angeles County Adults, 2011.

INTRODUCTION: The objective of this study was to examine whether an association exists between the number and type of food outlets in a neighborhood and dietary intake and body mass index (BMI) among adults in Los Angeles County. We also assessed whether this association depends on the geographic size of the food environment. METHODS: We analyzed data from the 2011 Los Angeles County Health Survey. We created buffers (from 0.25 to 3.0 miles in radius) centered in respondents' residential addresses and counted the number of food outlets by type in each buffer. Dependent variables were weekly intake of fruits and vegetables, sugar-sweetened beverages, and fast food; BMI; and being overweight (BMI ≥25.0 kg/m(2)) or obese (BMI ≥30.0 kg/m(2)). Explanatory variables were the number of outlets classified as fast-food outlets, convenience stores, small food stores, grocery stores, and supermarkets. Regressions were estimated for all sets of explanatory variables and buffer size combinations (150 total effects). RESULTS: Only 2 of 150 effects were significant after being adjusted for multiple comparisons. The number of fast-food restaurants in nonwalkable areas (in a 3.0-mile radius) was positively associated with fast-food consumption, and the number of convenience stores in a walkable distance (in a 0.25-mile radius) was negatively associated with obesity. DISCUSSION: Little evidence was found for associations between proximity of respondents' homes to food outlets and dietary intake or BMI among adults in Los Angeles County. A possible explanation for the null finding is that shopping patterns are weakly related to neighborhoods in Los Angeles County because of motorized transportation.

Building and Sustaining Strong Public Health Agencies: Determinants of Workforce Turnover.

CONTEXT: Workforce shortages have been identified as a priority for US public health agencies. Voluntary turnover results in loss of expertise and institutional knowledge as well as high costs to recruit and train replacement workers. OBJECTIVE: To analyze patterns and predictors of voluntary turnover among public health workers. DESIGN: Descriptive analysis and linear probability regression models. PARTICIPANTS: Employees of state health agencies in the United States who participated in the Public Health Workforce Interests and Needs Survey (PH WINS). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Intended retirement and voluntary departure; pay satisfaction; job satisfaction. RESULTS: Nearly 25% of workers reported plans to retire before 2020, and an additional 18% reported the intention to leave their current organization within 1 year. Four percent of staff are considering leaving their organization in the next year for a job at a different health department. There was significant heterogeneity by demographic, socioeconomic, and job characteristics. Areas such as administration/management, health education, health services, social services, and epidemiology may be particularly vulnerable to turnover. The strongest predictors of voluntary departure were pay and job satisfaction, which were associated with 9 (P < .001) and 24 (P < .001) percentage-point decreases, respectively, in the probability to report the intention to leave. Our findings suggest that if all workers were satisfied with their job and pay, intended departure would be 7.4%, or less than half the current 18% rate. Controlling for salary levels, higher levels of education and longer work experience were associated with lower pay satisfaction, except for physicians, who were 11 percentage points (P = .02) more likely to be satisfied with their pay than employees with doctoral degrees. Several workplace characteristics related to relationships with supervisors, workplace environment, and employee motivation/morale were significantly associated with job satisfaction. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that public health agencies may face significant pressure from worker retirement and voluntary departures in coming years. Although retirement can be addressed through recruitment efforts, addressing other voluntary departures will require focusing on improving pay and job satisfaction.

Factors associated with uptake of the Influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 monovalent pandemic vaccine in K-12 Public Schools, Maine 2009-2010.

CONTEXT AND OBJECTIVE: Maine implemented a statewide pre-K through 12-school vaccination program during the 2009-2010 H1N1 influenza pandemic. The main objective of this study was to determine which school, nurse, consent form, and clinic factors were associated with school-level vaccination rates for the first dose of the 2009 H1N1 pandemic vaccine. METHODS: In April 2010, school nurses or contacts were e-mailed electronic surveys. Generalized linear mixed regression was used to predict adjusted vaccination rates using random effects to account for correlations within school districts. Elementary and secondary (middle and high) schools were analyzed separately. RESULTS: Of 645 schools invited to participate, 82% (n = 531) completed the survey. After excluding schools that were ineligible or could not provide outcome data, data for 256 elementary and 124 secondary public schools were analyzed and included in the multivariable analyses. The overall, unadjusted, vaccination rate was 51% for elementary schools and 45% for secondary schools. Elementary schools that had 50 or fewer students per grade, had availability of additional nursing staff, which did not require parental presence at the H1N1 clinic or disseminated consent forms by mail and backpack (compared with backpack only) had statistically significant (P < .05) higher (adjusted) vaccination rates. For secondary schools, the vaccination rate for schools with the lowest proportion of students receiving subsidized lunch (ie, highest socioeconomic status) was 58% compared with 37% (P < .001) for schools with the highest proportion receiving subsidized lunch. CONCLUSIONS: Several factors were independently associated with vaccination rates. For elementary schools, planners should consider strategies such as providing additional nursing staff and disseminating consent forms via multiple methods. The impact of additional factors, including communication approaches and parent and student attitudes, needs to be investigated, especially for secondary schools.

Effectiveness of a school district closure for pandemic influenza A (H1N1) on acute respiratory illnesses in the community: a natural experiment.

BACKGROUND: Following detection of pandemic influenza A H1N1 (pH1N1) in Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas, a school district (intervention community, [IC]) closed all public schools for 8 days to reduce transmission. Nearby school districts (control community [CC]) mostly remained open. METHODS: We collected household data to measure self-reported acute respiratory illness (ARI), before, during, and after school closures. We also collected influenza-related visits to emergency departments (ED(flu)). RESULTS: In both communities, self-reported ARIs and ED(flu) visits increased from before to during the school closure, but the increase in ARI rates was 45% lower in the IC (0.6% before to 1.2% during) than in the CC (0.4% before to 1.5% during) (RRR(During)(/Before) = 0.55, P < .001; adjusted OR(During/Before) = 0.49, P < .03). For households with school-aged children only (no children 0-5 years), IC had even lower increases in adjusted ARI than in the CC (adjusted OR(During/Before) = 0.28, P < .001). The relative increase of total ED(flu) visits in the IC was 27% lower (2.8% before to 4.4% during) compared with the CC (2.9% before to 6.2% during). Among children aged 6-18 years, the percentage of ED(flu) in IC remained constant (5.1% before vs 5.2% during), whereas in the CC it more than doubled (5.2% before vs 10.9% during). After schools reopened, ARI rates and ED(flu) visits decreased in both communities. CONCLUSIONS: Our study documents a reduction in ARI and ED(flu) visits in the intervention community. Our findings can be used to assess the potential benefit of school closures during pandemics.

Effect of winter school breaks on influenza-like illness, Argentina, 2005-2008.

School closures are used to reduce seasonal and pandemic influenza transmission, yet evidence of their effectiveness is sparse. In Argentina, annual winter school breaks occur during the influenza season, providing an opportunity to study this intervention. We used 2005-2008 national weekly surveillance data of visits to a health care provider for influenza-like illness (ILI) from all provinces. Using Serfling-specified Poisson regressions and population-based census denominators, we developed incidence rate ratios (IRRs) for the 3 weeks before, 2 weeks during, and 3 weeks after the break. For persons 5-64 years of age, IRRs were <1 for at least 1 week after the break. Observed rates returned to expected by the third week after the break; overall decrease among persons of all ages was 14%. The largest decrease was among children 5-14 years of age during the week after the break (37% lower IRR). Among adults, effects were weaker and delayed. Two-week winter school breaks significantly decreased visits to a health care provider for ILI among school-aged children and nonelderly adults.

System factors affect the recognition and management of posttraumatic stress disorder by primary care clinicians.

BACKGROUND: Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is common with an estimated prevalence of 8% in the general population and up to 17% in primary care patients. Yet, little is known about what determines primary care clinician's (PCC's) provision of PTSD care. OBJECTIVE: To describe PCC's reported recognition and management of PTSD and identify how system factors affect the likelihood of performing clinical actions with regard to patients with PTSD or "PTSD treatment proclivity." DESIGN: Linked cross-sectional surveys of medical directors and PCCs. PARTICIPANTS: Forty-six medical directors and 154 PCCs in community health centers (CHCs) within a practice-based research network in New York and New Jersey. MEASUREMENTS: Two system factors (degree of integration between primary care and mental health services, and existence of linkages with other community, social, and legal services) as reported by medical directors, and PCC reports of self-confidence, perceived barriers, and PTSD treatment proclivity. RESULTS: Surveys from 47 (of 58) medical directors (81% response rate) and 154 PCCs (86% response rate). PCCs from CHCs with better mental health integration reported greater confidence, fewer barriers, and higher PTSD treatment proclivity (all P < 0.05). The PCCs in CHCs with better community linkages reported greater confidence, fewer barriers, higher PTSD treatment proclivity, and lower proclivity to refer patients to mental health specialists or to use a "watch and wait" approach (all P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: System factors play an important role in PCC PTSD management. Interventions are needed that restructure primary care practices by making mental health services more integrated and community linkages stronger.

Does place explain racial health disparities? Quantifying the contribution of residential context to the Black/white health gap in the United States.

The persistence of the black health disadvantage has been a puzzling component of health in the United States in spite of general declines in rates of morbidity and mortality over the past century. Studies that have focused on well-established individual-level determinants of health such as socio-economic status and health behaviors have been unable to fully explain these disparities. Recent research has begun to focus on other factors such as racism, discrimination, and segregation. Variation in neighborhood context-socio-demographic composition, social aspects, and built environment-has been postulated as an additional explanation for racial disparities, but few attempts have been made to quantify its overall contribution to the black/white health gap. This analysis is an attempt to generate an estimate of place effects on explaining health disparities by utilizing data from the U.S. National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) (1989-1994), combined with a methodology for identifying residents of the same blocks both within and across NHIS survey cross-sections. Our results indicate that controlling for a single point-in-time measure of residential context results in a roughly 15-76% reduction of the black/white disparities in self-rated health that were previously unaccounted for by individual-level controls. The contribution of residential context toward explaining the black/white self-rated health gap varies by both age and gender such that contextual explanations of disparities decline with age and appear to be smaller among females.

School-Based Influenza Vaccination: Health and Economic Impact of Maine's 2009 Influenza Vaccination Program.

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the societal economic and health impacts of Maine's school-based influenza vaccination (SIV) program during the 2009 A(H1N1) influenza pandemic. DATA SOURCES: Primary and secondary data covering the 2008-09 and 2009-10 influenza seasons. STUDY DESIGN: We estimated weekly monovalent influenza vaccine uptake in Maine and 15 other states, using difference-in-difference-in-differences analysis to assess the program's impact on immunization among six age groups. We also developed a health and economic Markov microsimulation model and conducted Monte Carlo sensitivity analysis. DATA COLLECTION: We used national survey data to estimate the impact of the SIV program on vaccine coverage. We used primary data and published studies to develop the microsimulation model. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: The program was associated with higher immunization among children and lower immunization among adults aged 18-49 years and 65 and older. The program prevented 4,600 influenza infections and generated $4.9 million in net economic benefits. Cost savings from lower adult vaccination accounted for 54 percent of the economic gain. Economic benefits were positive in 98 percent of Monte Carlo simulations. CONCLUSIONS: SIV may be a cost-beneficial approach to increase immunization during pandemics, but programs should be designed to prevent lower immunization among nontargeted groups.

Parent attitudes about school-located influenza vaccination clinics.

The use of alternative venues beyond physician offices may help to increase rates of population influenza vaccination. Schools provide a logical setting for reaching children, but most school-located vaccination (SLV) efforts to date have been limited to local areas. The potential reach and acceptability of SLV at the national level is unknown in the United States. To address this gap, we conducted a nationally representative online survey of 1088 parents of school-aged children. We estimate rates of, and factors associated with, future hypothetical parental consent for children to participate in SLV for influenza. Based on logistic regression analysis, we estimate that 51% of parents would be willing to consent to SLV for influenza. Among those who would consent, SLV was reported as more convenient than the regular location (42.1% vs. 19.9%, P<0.001). However the regular location was preferred over SLV for the child's well-being in case of side effects (46.4% vs. 20.9%, P<0.001) and proper administration of the vaccine (31.0% vs. 21.0%, P<0.001). Parents with college degrees and whose child received the 2009-2010 seasonal or 2009 H1N1 influenza vaccination were more likely to consent, as were parents of uninsured children. Several measures of concern about vaccine safety were negatively associated with consent for SLV. Of those not against SLV, schools were preferred as more convenient to the regular location by college graduates, those whose child received the 2009-2010 seasonal or 2009 H1N1 influenza vaccination, and those with greater travel and clinic time. With an estimated one-half of U.S. parents willing to consent to SLV, this study shows the potential to use schools for large-scale influenza vaccination programs in the U.S.

Melanoma-related mortality and productivity losses in the USA, 1990-2008.

Melanoma remains among the deadliest cancers in the USA, ranking presently as the leading cause of death from skin disease in this country. The present analysis presents national statistics on the health burden (mortality) and productivity losses attributable to this cancer over a 19-year period. Melanoma-related deaths and mortality rates from 1990 through 2008 were identified and calculated using multiple-cause-of-death data and data from the 2000 US Census. Productivity losses were estimated using previously published methods that accounted for life expectancy, labor force participation, productivity growth, and the imputed values of caregiving and housekeeping activities. A total of 155,571 melanoma-related deaths occurred during 1990-2008, resulting in 1,811,701 years of potential life lost. Age-adjusted mortality rates stratified by sex and race/ethnicity revealed differences: whites had the highest rate (3.55 per 100 000 population; 95% confidence interval 3.54, 3.57) and male individuals were 2.21 times more likely than female individuals to succumb to the disease. Cumulatively, the numbers of death for blacks, Hispanics, Asian/Pacific Islanders, and American Indians/Alaskan Natives exceeded 6000 deaths. The total productivity losses attributable to melanoma-related mortality during the sampled period were ∼$66.9 billion. The burden and economic consequences of melanoma-related deaths in the USA are not inconsequential. Understanding the mortality trends and productivity losses attributed to this skin cancer is important for evaluating the feasibility and trade-offs of public health and behavioral counseling interventions that focus on promoting skin cancer prevention.

Household economic impact and attitudes toward school closures in two cities in Argentina during the 2009 influenza A (H1N1) pandemic.

BACKGROUND: School closures were widely implemented in Argentina during the 2009 H1N1 influenza virus pandemic. OBJECTIVES: To assess the economic impact of school closures on households, their effectiveness in preventing children from engaging in social group activities, and parental attitudes toward them. METHODS: Three schools that closed for 2 weeks in response to the pandemic were identified in two socioeconomically distinct cities in Argentina. All households with children enrolled in these schools were surveyed. Direct and indirect costs attributable to closures were estimated from the household perspective. Other information collected included children activities during the closures and parental attitudes toward the intervention. RESULTS: Completed questionnaires were returned by 45% of surveyed households. Direct and indirect costs due to closures represented 11% of imputed monthly household income in the city with lower socioeconomic status, and 3% in the other city (P=0·01). Non-childcare expenses and loss of workdays were more common in the city with lower socioeconomic status. Childcare expenses were less common and were experienced by a similar percentage of households in both cities. About three-quarters of respondents in both cities agreed with the closures. The main concern among those who disagreed with closures was their negative impact on education. Children in more than two-thirds of affected households left their home at least once during the closures to spend time in public places. CONCLUSION: School closures may more significantly impact low-income households. Authorities should consider the range of economic impacts of school closures among families when planning their implementation.

Incidence of influenza-associated mortality and hospitalizations in Argentina during 2002-2009.

BACKGROUND: We estimated rates of influenza-associated deaths and hospitalizations in Argentina, a country that recommends annual influenza vaccination for persons at high risk of complications from influenza illness. METHODS: We identified hospitalized persons and deaths in persons diagnosed with pneumonia and influenza (P&I, ICD-10 codes J10-J18) and respiratory and circulatory illness (R&C, codes I00-I99 and J00-J99). We defined the influenza season as the months when the proportion of samples that tested positive for influenza exceeded the annual median. We used hospitalizations and deaths during the influenza off-season to estimate, using linear regression, the number of excess deaths that occurred during the influenza season. To explore whether excess mortality varied by sex and whether people were age <65 or ≥ 65 years, we used Poisson regression of the influenza-associated rates. RESULTS: During 2002-2009, 2411 P&I and 8527 R&C mean excess deaths occurred annually from May to October. If all of these excess deaths were associated with influenza, the influenza-associated mortality rate was 6/100,000 person-years (95% CI 4-8/100,000 person-years for P&I and 21/100,000 person-years (95% CI 12-31/100,000 person-years) for R&C. During 2005-2008, we identified an average of 7868 P&I excess hospitalizations and 22,994 R&C hospitalizations per year, resulting in an influenza-associated hospitalization rate of 2/10,000 person-years (95% CI 1-3/10,000 person-years) for P&I and 6/10,000 person-years (95% CI 3-8/10,000 person-years) for R&C. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that annual rates of influenza-associated hospitalizations and death in Argentina were substantial and similar to neighboring Brazil.

Effects of immunizing school children with 2009 influenza A (H1N1) monovalent vaccine on absenteeism among students and teachers in Maine.

The overall and indirect effects of immunizing school children with influenza A (H1N1) 2009 pandemic virus vaccine prior to and during the peak of virus circulation were evaluated on student and teacher school absenteeism. We used records collected from late 2009 through early 2010 from schools in four Maine counties. Mixed logistic regression models were used to estimate the daily association between school-level immunization coverage and absenteeism by level of influenza activity, after adjusting for the proportion of students receiving reduced-cost lunches, student minority status, absences adjacent to weekends and Thanksgiving, rural school location, and the circulation of other respiratory viruses. Increasing student immunization coverage was associated with reduced absenteeism during periods of high influenza activity. For example, as immunization coverage during the peak week of pandemic virus circulation increased from 38% to 69% (the 10th and 90th percentiles of observed coverage, respectively), relative reductions in daily absenteeism among all students, unimmunized students, and teachers were 8.2% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 6.5, 9.9), 5.7% (95% CI: 4.2, 7.3), and 8.7% (95% CI: 1.3, 16), respectively. Increased vaccination coverage among school-aged Maine children had modest overall and indirect effects on student and teacher absenteeism, despite vaccination occurring just prior and during peak pandemic virus circulation.

Racial/ethnic differences in US health behaviors: a decomposition analysis.

OBJECTIVE: To quantify contributions of individual sociodemographic factors, neighborhood socioeconomic status (NSES), and unmeasured factors to racial/ethnic differences in health behaviors for non-Hispanic (NH) whites, NH blacks, and Mexican Americans. METHODS: We used linear regression and Oaxaca decomposition analyses. RESULTS: Although individual characteristics and NSES contributed to racial/ethnic differences in health behaviors, differential responses by individual characteristics and NSES also played a significant role. CONCLUSIONS: There are racial/ethnic differences in the way that individual-level determinants and NSES affect health behaviors. Understanding the mechanisms for differential responses could inform community interventions and public health campaigns that target particular groups.

Prioritizing "psychological" consequences for disaster preparedness and response: a framework for addressing the emotional, behavioral, and cognitive effects of patient surge in large-scale disasters.

While information for the medical aspects of disaster surge is increasingly available, there is little guidance for health care facilities on how to manage the psychological aspects of large-scale disasters that might involve a surge of psychological casualties. In addition, no models are available to guide the development of training curricula to address these needs. This article describes 2 conceptual frameworks to guide hospitals and clinics in managing such consequences. One framework was developed to understand the antecedents of psychological effects or "psychological triggers" (restricted movement, limited resources, limited information, trauma exposure, and perceived personal or family risk) that cause the emotional, behavioral, and cognitive reactions following large-scale disasters. Another framework, adapted from the Donabedian quality of care model, was developed to guide appropriate disaster response by health care facilities in addressing the consequences of reactions to psychological triggers. This framework specifies structural components (internal organizational structure and chain of command, resources and infrastructure, and knowledge and skills) that should be in place before an event to minimize consequences. The framework also specifies process components (coordination with external organizations, risk assessment and monitoring, psychological support, and communication and information sharing) to support evidence-informed interventions.

Neighbourhood socioeconomic status and biological 'wear and tear' in a nationally representative sample of US adults.

OBJECTIVE: To assess whether neighbourhood socioeconomic status (NSES) is independently associated with disparities in biological 'wear and tear' measured by allostatic load in a nationally representative sample of US adults. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. SETTING: Population-based US survey, the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III), merged with US census data describing respondents' neighbourhoods. PARTICIPANTS: 13,184 adults from 83 counties and 1805 census tracts who completed NHANES III interviews and medical examinations and whose residential addresses could be reliably geocoded to census tracts. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: A summary measure of biological risk, incorporating nine biomarkers that together represent allostatic load across metabolic, cardiovascular and inflammatory subindices. RESULTS: Being male, older, having lower income, less education, being Mexican-American and being both black and female were all independently associated with a worse allostatic load. After adjusting for these characteristics, living in a lower NSES was associated with a worse allostatic load (coefficient -0.46; CI -0.079 to -0.012). The relationship between NSES and allostatic load did not vary significantly by gender or race/ethnicity. CONCLUSIONS: Living in a lower NSES in the USA is associated with significantly greater biological wear and tear as measured by the allostatic load, and this relationship is independent of individual SES characteristics. Our findings show that where one lives is independently associated with allostatic load, thereby suggesting that policies that improve NSES may also yield health returns.

Neighborhoods and cumulative biological risk profiles by race/ethnicity in a national sample of U.S. adults: NHANES III.

PURPOSE: To examine race/ethnic-specific patterns of association between neighborhood socioeconomic status (NSES) and a cumulative biological risk index in a nationally representative population. METHODS: The study sample included 13,199 white, black, and Mexican-American men and women, ages 20 and older, who attended the National Health and Examination Survey examination (1988-1994). Neighborhoods were defined as census tracts and linked to U.S. Census measures from 1990 and 2000, interpolated to the survey year; the NSES score included measures of income, education, poverty, and unemployment and was categorized into quintiles, with the highest indicating greater NSES. A summary biological risk score, allostatic load (AL; range 0-9), was created from 9 biological indicators of elevated risk: serum levels of C-reactive protein, albumin, glycated hemoglobin, total and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, waist-to-hip ratio, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and resting heart rate. Regression models stratified by race/ethnicity examined AL as a continuous and dichotomous (>or=3 vs. <3) outcome. RESULTS: We found strong inverse associations between NSES and AL for black subjects, after adjusting for age, sex, U.S. birth, urban location, and individual SES. These associations were weaker and less consistent for Mexican Americans and whites. CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicate that living in low NSES neighborhoods is most strongly associated with greater cumulative biological risk profiles in the black U.S. population.